I'm not one to have 20 brushes sitting around. When I joined B&B years (maybe 10 years ago?) I got in on a group buy of a badger brush. I've been using that exclusively until maybe a year or two ago when I purchased a Semogue 830 boar brush, and to my surprise I really like it. Synthetics weren't much of a thing back when I started wet shaving. Still, I've been curious about all of the talk with synthetics, so when I was at Merz Apothecary in Chicago the gentleman sold me on a Fine Stout synthetic. It's been the brush I use for travel, but being a face latherer, the brush doesn't splay like the Semogue does. With it being a smaller brush I thought a bigger one would be the ticket, so I went to the other extreme and purchased a Maggard 24mm Black & White. Seems like it does better with the splay but, not surprisingly, a bit too big for my liking.
Maybe I'm just a boar brush kinda guy at this point, but don't want to rule out synthetics completely. What makes things a bit more difficult is that I'm not a fan of all these crazy neon colors and designs that are on brush handles that seems to be the trend. The traditional look of Simpson brushes appeal to me, but don't want to be dropping $100-$200 dollars on badger brushes if my preference turns out to be boars.
So, I guess my question is, is there a synthetic out there that you gentleman would recommend? I don't mind paying a premium for a synthetic if it has similar qualities as the Semogue and I'd use it in my very small brush rotation.
Maybe I'm just a boar brush kinda guy at this point, but don't want to rule out synthetics completely. What makes things a bit more difficult is that I'm not a fan of all these crazy neon colors and designs that are on brush handles that seems to be the trend. The traditional look of Simpson brushes appeal to me, but don't want to be dropping $100-$200 dollars on badger brushes if my preference turns out to be boars.
So, I guess my question is, is there a synthetic out there that you gentleman would recommend? I don't mind paying a premium for a synthetic if it has similar qualities as the Semogue and I'd use it in my very small brush rotation.